NDC gives airlines unprecedented control over their offers and orders in third-party distribution channels. It’s the key to modern airline merchandising and a better online shopping experience.
A new era
Fast-tracked in part by the global pandemic of 2020, the airline industry as a whole has strengthened its digital technology capability. The wave of digital transformation across all industries has raised consumers’ expectations – if you can’t deliver a fast, seamless online experience, you could quickly lose customers to your competitors.
Instead of visiting multiple websites or calling multiple travel brands to create their own travel package, consumers can now visit travel aggregator sites or use metasearch engines to find the best available options. Consumers are balancing value and convenience with the expectation that they can customize their travel selections. New channels, choices and expectations have reinvented their purchasing behaviors.
And while airlines might have complete control over the options available on their websites and mobile apps, third-party channels frequently compare airline offers based solely on flight schedules and unbundled airfare prices. What’s more, third-party channels often lack the ability to offer the add-on ancillaries that travelers expect. Everyone loses: the airline, the traveler and the travel seller.
What’s keeping travel sellers from embracing NDC?
Money. Time. Opportunity.
Achieving widespread adoption of NDC across the travel industry requires collaboration and standardization between airlines, travel agencies, technology providers and other stakeholders. As with most industries, the overall travel industry can be slow to change. Some travel sellers are concerned about servicing capabilities, like the ability to modify bookings after they have been created. Others are waiting to see if NDC will actually take off or fizzle out. There’s a lot at stake. For airlines and travel sellers.
But some OTAs (online travel agencies) see the trajectory and are eager for NDC content; they recognize airlines are moving their best content from traditional sales channels, or only adding new offers to NDC-enabled channels. Airlines are offering exclusive fares and promotions to get travel sellers to move to NDC, and major travel agencies and aggregators, such as Expedia, Booking.com, CWT, Kayak and more, have already made the leap.
Standardized messaging creates new opportunities
With its standardized API messages and the opportunity to introduce rich content, NDC lets airlines regain control of how third parties sell their products and services. Beyond the specifics of standardization and technology schemas, NDC is simply a means to an end that reflects the reality of the modern travel ecosystem. With it, travel sellers can more broadly access and sell the products and services that airlines are already selling through their websites and mobile applications.
Changing norms
NDC is less about compliance and more about capabilities. It’s the enabler that the industry is leveraging to evolve airline reservation systems from aging and limiting order taking systems to flexible digital retailing platforms. It’s imperative to give travel agencies and corporate customers the same merchandising capabilities that airlines have on their own websites and mobile apps. Airlines that are slow to update their legacy mindset may miss out on all NDC can deliver.
New innovations like lie-flat seats, inflight internet and entertainment, sky couches, sleeping pods and more are elevating the travel experience and adding real differentiation to an otherwise commoditized product. But airlines need to be able to sell those enhancements to drive new innovations.
NDC can help airlines accelerate the move to modern digital merchandising by offering transparency into their full array of products and services to enhance the traveler journey, creating a path to full product visibility.
The bottom line
The adoption of NDC is transforming the travel ecosystem in profound ways. It’s giving airlines more control over their distribution strategies and helping them differentiate themselves to attract travelers. It’s also reshaping traditional business models and changing the way airlines do business with travel sellers. Airlines and travel sellers need to work together to unlock the opportunities that NDC enables.
The time to adopt a new technology platform leveraging data driven, digital-first, modern APIs to connect with your partners – all powered by scalable cloud-based solutions – has never been clearer. Time to get on board.
For more, read full whitepaper.
Article by Navitaire
